Lubricator device



H. E. MCKINNEY LUBR I C ATOR DEVI CE Filed Sept. 2, 1950 FIG. I

Inventor: Howard E. McKinney Bymw His torney Patented Feb. 23, 1954 sneupevuapmesi a corporation of'Delvvar Company, Sah Franciscm aspiratiesSeptember 2, 1,959, Serial 182.971?

but may also be used w en inserting temperature and pressure bulbs,` orsimilar instruments, into pressure vessels such, for example, as towers.in oil refineries, etc.

Since wire lines and cables of types such as are used in well headoperations, for example, in,-

sulated conductor cables having an armor sheath .made of wire strands,have a relativelylrough or uneven surface, an excess Ye radialpressure'iuust be normally applied byany lubricator er packing elementwhen lsuch cable is venig inserted inte a high pressure well ie preventliresslire .leaks between the packing elemeht and lhe cable. In fact,before a completely iiuidtight seal is formed about the cable, thisradial pressure lmust often reach such an order of magnitude that thelGaiole becomes jammed in the paekejnithus preventing a verticalmovement of the cable and defeating the purpose of operation of thelubric or.'

In. general, the iubrieaifirs Presenti, empl'eyed en high-pressure wellsare aieviied with rubber packer which. is adapted to' formasQlid-toisolid seal around a cable having a' rough or; a groovedsurface. Because ciA this solid v4 ci-solid seal between the cable and'the rubber packer, the latter is subjected to excessive abrasive ac;-tion when cables of hundreds orthous 'ndsdf'ffeet in length are rapidlydrawnA therethrough; This necessitates frequentreplacement orreadjustment of the rubber packers in order' to sealihe top of the Welleffectively.

It is therefore a primary object' of this invention to provide anapparatus through which either smooth or rough-surfaced cable,v wireline, smalldiameter tubing` or equivalent elongated cylindrical elementsmay be readily inserted into a high-pressure well.

It is also an object of the,5 present invention to provide a lubricatoradapted to form an effective seal about a cable being' inserted into orwithdrawn from a high-pressure well, said' seal being of aliquid-to-solid type, thereby eliminating the possibility of anyabrasive moving cable and-the seal.;

Other Objects, and advantages k@fthe .irivenieiri will become apparentfrom the'ffollowing 'descripl tion taken with reference to thedrawingA-wherein: Figure 1 isA a longitudinal? View @rees septies' action.betweeif iie ,f chamber 2J elle' 25, which preferente.

f7 Claims. (01; 236216) Figure 2 is a longitudinal view in cross sectionof another embodiment of a spool piece used in the present'lubricatordevice.

Referring to Figure 1, the main portion of the present lubricator devicecomprises a tubular element'which is preferably constructed in the formof a plurality of short sections or spool pieces I I I2 and I3, whichmay be secured togetherV in a fluidtight manner by any suitable meanssuch as, for yexamplescrew threads, iianges, etc. The bore of the lowerpipe section l I is enlarged along a portion thereof ,forming a huidreservoir I4 containing 'al relatively viscous transfer liquid 'orsealing material such as heavy oil or grease. Waxes, asphalt, glue,sugar syrup, paraffin, water., drilling muds, or any viscid material maybe used as pressure iluid's. i

The pipe section Il is provided with one or more suitable ports I5 andI5a through the Wall thereof in communication with the reservoir I4. Aconduit I6 is threadedly secured in port I5 for supplying a liquidpreferably a viscous medium under pressure to said reservoir I4 from anysuit,- able source, diagrammatically shown at 48, which consists of asupply of the viscous medium to'- gether with a source of pressure forinjecting said viscous medium. The source of injection pres-l sure maycomprise the utilization of the well casing pressure in a manner wellknown to the' art, or the employment of a compressor such 'as anair-,operatedhigh pressure power gun. Preferably,yseparate conduits I6and* [6uv are in communication between the source of` the viscous medium4,8 and the ports I5 and I5a, the dow through said conduits beingcontrolled by valves 5I and 52. The portion of the bore I1 below thereservoir I4 in the lower pipe vsection II is equal in diameter to thebore in the other two pipe sections I2 and I3, said diameter beingslightly ('afew, thousandthsofan inch) 'greatertha'n'the diameter of aVcableZ'l to be fed through said bQlQS A short spool of pipe section, I8is secured by, meins. @replis le to the iop flange, zii-.ofpipe. section|3 Thel bore of this pipe section I 8'i`s` recessed4 to providel achamber'v 2|, substantially; equal in size to reservoir I4,pin which thetrans; ier liquid 0,1# Sealing material may be collected A conduit 2,2;may communicate between thev iiie Seppia ef the Viscous iiuid. feminin?.excess'ansfef ud of holding sleevesl.23 and Mare. the. top pipe sectionIii`v` or more cable wipers' Of.- airesilient iii iii una 4a for #harem-Alpes positioned in. ther bore. of fior holding therebetween YprovidingeXtra tapered as 'shown to act as centering guides for the cable at theupper end of the apparatus.

Similarly, the lower flange 3D of pipe section II is recessed around thebore to receive in said recess one or more rubber cable wipers 3|secured in place by a threaded sleeve 32 provided with a lock screw 33.Preferably, the present appara- -tus is provided with a plurality of gasflow resistance orifices 34 positioned in the bore of pipe section IIabove the liquid reservoir I4 and/or in the bore 49, and/or in the bore58. These ori-I fices assist in cutting down the flow of gas in theevent that a gas flow should occur through the apparatus.

While the lower fiange 30 of pipe section II may be secured directly toa wellhead, or to a christmas tree positioned thereon, it is preferablysecured by bolts 35 to a Jflanged member 33 provided with a tubularcentering guide 3i for centering the cable 2l in the bore i? and the'wire-line valve or blow-out preventer 38. Also a pressure-seal wireline valve or blow-out preventer 38 is preferably secured between member3,5 and a tubular member 39 on the wellhead for security againstblow-outs. The preventer 38 comprises a pressuretight housing in which apair of rams 4l and 42 carrying sealing rubbers 43 and 44 are swinginglymounted on shafts 45 and 46 'which may be actuated by a handle 41. Inoperation the rams 4! and 42 rotate toward each other and the rubbers 43and 4e seal against the wire line 27.

The present apparatus is especially designed or effectively sealing thetop of a high-pressure (say, 6600 p. s. i.) Well as tools or instrumentsare run in to the well on a cable, particularly when the cable has arough or a grooved sur` face. As the cable 2i is inserted into orwithdrawn from the well, a pressure or transfer liquid or material suchas a grease is pumped from` the pressure source through conduit I6and/or'la into the reservoir i4 where it entirely surrounds the cable 2land iills the grooves in the surface thereof. Normally, sufficientquantities of the viscous material under pressure may be supplied to thereservoir I4 through a single conduit It or 15o. However, in the eventof a sudden increase in well pressure which might cause a blow-out, bothvalves 5I and 52 may be opened to increase the amount and pressure ofthe grease being supplied to the reservoir I4.

The transfer iluid is supplied to the reservoir I 4 at a pressureslightly greater than the well pressure so that a low diierentialpressure seal is formed between the cable 21 and the walls of the boreI'i in the lower pipe section H. Sincer the clearance between the wallsof the bore I'I and the cable 2l may be in the order of .G01-.005 inch,the well pressure cannot force the grease out and an effectivesolideliquid-solid seal is formed within the bore of the apparatus ineach 'of the sections II, i2 and I3. Above the fluid reservoir I4, thebores or orifices 49 and 58 through the upper pipe sections I2 and I3form' a high diierential pressure seal about the cable 21. Hence, thereis a greater tendency for the sealing uidto .be forced along the'yoriiices 4?:4

and 5B' toV 'the' Huid 'collection' chamber '2I,

especially when the cable 2 is being withdrawn from the well. Transferfluid collected in chamber 2l can be returned to the pressure source 48through conduit 22. The cable wipers 25 and 3l do substantially nosealing but merely wipe off excess transfer fluid or other materialcarried on the surface of the cable 21. For sustained and economicaloperation, the length of the orifices '49 and 50 should be at least 10times the diameter thereof.

Thus, it may be seen that the present apparatus provides means forsealing, in a high-pressure well, a cable or any cross-section, i. e.,round, square, octagonal Aor any irregular shape. Additionally, the sealformed is not subject to any Wear due to abrasive action between solidmoving bodies as'the transfer fluid forming the seal pre-y vents anysolid-to-solid contact. Depending: upon the well pressure encountered,the passageway formed by the bores of pipe sections II, I2, and I3 maybe readily varied in length and diameter by the proper selection ofspools of suitable size in order to accommodate cables of varyingdiameter in the well installation.

A preferred embodiment of the spool pieces of the present device isshown in Figure 2 wherein the spool piece 53 has inserted in its bore acylindrical sleeve 54. In the event that the inner wall of the sleeve 54becomes eroded or gas-cut, the sleeve rather than the entire spool maybe readily replaced at comparatively little cost. This cylindricalsleeve (Fig. 2) can be of the longitudinally split type to permitreplacement while apparatus is under pressure and the cable 21 is in thebore I'I, i4, 48, 50, etc.

When a cable is being inserted into a highpressure well, the presentlubricator or sealing apparatus may be used in conjunction with anysuitable cable feeding mechanism, for example,

'the one disclosed in U. S. Patent application No.

84,076 to McKinney, filed March 29, 1949, or U. S. Patent No. 2,262,364to Hgel, issued November 11, 1941. r'Ihe present lubricator device hasbeen found to form an eective seal around a cable being'injected into ahigh-pressure (in the range vof 2,000-l0,000 p. s. i.) well wherebyvarious well instruments and tools such as depth gauges, pressuregauges, borehole calipers, casing per- 'forators bailers, iishing tools,casing cutters, now meters, samplers and radioactive logging equipmentmay be readily lowered into the well on a cable or wire line.

I claim as my invention:

l. An apparatus for forming a pressure seal around a columnar elementduring insertion into and removal from a high-pressure wellhead, saidapparatus comprising a plurality of spool members, means connecting saidspool members end to end to each other in fluidtight manner, meansmounting the lowermost spool member ion. top of the wcllhead coaxiallytherewith, an axial bore through said spool members in communicationwith the wellhead, the diameter of ysaid bore being barely larger thanthe diameter of said columnar element, said bore in the uppermost spoolmember and in the upper portion of the lowermost spool member beingenlarged to form an upper and a lower pressure iiuid chamberrespectively, a plurality of axial gas dow resistance orices mountedinthe upper portion .of the lower chamber, means comprising radial portmeans opening to the lower chamber below said axial resistance oricesfor injecting a viscous pressure duid vinto said lower chamber,

and means comprising 'radialport means open- Aing 'to the iupper chamberI'tor withdrawing tsa-itl -fluid therefrom.

2. vapparatus Vfor :forming .-a -pressure Aseal `around arelativelylflexible cable-during linsertion 'into and removal from -ahigh-pressure wellhead, i.

said apparatus comprising a plurality of Alspool membersjmeansconnecting said spool members end to end .to each other ink iluidtightmanner, means mounting the lowermost` spool -memberon top of thewellhead coaxially therewith, an axial bore through said spool ,membersin communi- 4cation with the wellhead, the .diameter of the Abore vbeingbarely larger than -the diameter Iof Asaid cable,`saidboreintheuppermost spool memfber and .in the upper portion .of thelowermost spool member being enlarged .to form .an upper and a lowerpressure fluidchamber respectively, a plurality of axial gas iiowresistance orifices mounted in the upper portion of the lower chamber,means comprising a plurality of radial inlet ports opening to the lowerchamber below said axial resistance orifices for injecting a viscouspressure fluid into said lower chamber. means comprising outlet portmeans opening to the upper chamber for withdrawing said fluid therefrom,a source of pressure fluid, conduit means in communication between eachof said inlet ports and said pressure source, and valves in said conduitmeans for controlling the pressure and amount of viscous uid introducedto said lower chamber.

3. An apparatus for forming a pressure seal around a relatively iiexiblecable during insertion into and removal from a high-pressure wellhead,said apparatus comprising a plurality of spool members, means connectingsaid spool members end to end to each other in iuidtight manner, meansmounting the lowermost spool member on top of the wellhead coaxiallytherewith, an axial bore through said spool members in communicationwith the wellhead, a sleeve removably mounted in the bore of each ofsaid spool members, the inside diameter of said sleeves being barelylarger than the diameter of said cable, said bore in the uppermost spoolmember and in the upper portion of the lowermost spool member beingenlarged to form an upper and a lower pressure uid chamber respectively,cable wipers mounted at the upper end of the uppermost spool piece andat the lower end of the lowermost spool piece in coaxial alignment withthe bore therethrough, a plurality of axial gas iiow resistance orificesmounted in the upper portion of the lower chamber, means comprising aplurality of radial inlet ports opening to the lower chamber below saidaxial resistance orices for injecting a viscous pressure uid into saidlower chamber, means comprising outlet port means opening to the upperchamber for withdrawing said lluid therefrom, a source of presure uid,conduit means in communication between each of said inlet ports and saidpressure source, and valves in said inlet conduit means for controllingthe pressure and amount of viscous fluid introduced to said lowerchamber.

4. An apparatus for forming a pressure seal around a relatively iiexiblecable during insertion into and removal from a high-pressure wellhead,said apparatus comprising a plurality of spool members, means connectingsaid spool members end to end to each other in udtight manner, blow-outpreventer means secured to the lowermost spool member, cable centeringmeans carried by said blow-out preventer means, means mounting theblow-out preventer means Von ftopefofftne :wellhead 'coaxiallytherewith, an axial bore through :said fspoolv members-1in com-`muni-cation zwi-th'fthe wellhead, VYthe' ldiameter of ethe zbore being-barely larger than x'the -|Adiameter vof said cable, Vsaid-'bore Iin-:the uppermost spool mem-ber. and in the vupper portion of thevlowerxmost spool member being :enlarged- Ito form van upper and ya'lower `pressure 4'iluidchiami-ber respectively, `a plural-ity yof axial:gas -low resistance ,orifices 'mounted' in the upper portion or thelower chamber, `means :comprising a yplurality of radial inlet lports--opening to 4the'lower chamber `below said axial 1'resistance orifices4for injecting ya viscous-'.pressureiiuid Ainto' said :lower chamber,means :comprising 'outlet port means opening to the upper chamber vforwithdrawing' lsaid filuid therefrom, a source of'gpressure iluid,conduit means in icommunication between each ICif said inlet ports andsaid pressure source, and valves in said inlet conduits for controllingthe pressure and amount of viscous iluid introduced to said lowerchamber.

5. An apparatus for forming a pressure seal around a cable beinginserted into a high-pressure wellhead, said apparatus comprising anelongated tubular member adapted to be mounted on the top of thewellhead coaxially and in open communication therewith, the major lengthof said tubular member having a substantially' smooth continuous boreslightly greater in diam-l passing therethrough, means;

eter than the cable for removably securing said member to said wellheadin a fluidtight manner, the bore of said tubular member having shortportions near the ends thereof enlarged to form rst and second liquidchambers, said first chamber being positioned substantially adjacent thewellhead, conduit means for introducing a pressure-liquid through thewall of said tubular member to said first chamber, second conduit meansfor discharging said pressure-liquid from said second chamber, a sourceof pressure-fluid connected to said iirst conduit means, a plurality ofaxially disposed gas ow resistance orifices mounted within an enlargedportion of the bore of said tubular member, and non-metallic cablewipers secured to either end of said tubular member in coaxial alignmentwith the bore thereof, said cable wipers having a bore therethrough ofa, diameter smaller than the cable passing tlerethrough.

6. An apparatus for forming a pressure seal around a cable beinginserted into a high-pressure wellhead, said apparatus comprising anelongated tubular member adapted to be mounted on the' top of thewellhead coaxially and in open communication therewith, the majorportion of the bore of tubular member being slightly greater in diameterthan that of the cable passing therethrough, means for removablysecuring said member to said wellhead in iiuidtight manner,

the bore of said tubular member having short portions near the endsthereof enlarged to form rst and second liquid chambers, said rstchamber being positioned substantially adjacent the wellhead, conduitmeans for introducing a viscous pressure-liquid through the wall of saidtubular member to said iirst chamber, second conduit means fordischarging said viscous pressure-liquid from said second chamber, asource of viscous pressure-uuid connected to said rst conduit means,cable wipers secured to either end of said tubular member in coaxialalignment with the bore thereof, and a plurality or axially derogandisposed -gas flow resistance orifices mounted within the bore of saidtubular member.

7. An apparatus for forming a pressure seal around a cable beinginserted into a high-pressure Wellhead, said apparatus comprising anelongated tubular member adapted to be mounted on the top of thewellhead coaxially and in open communication therewith, the majorportion of the bore of tubular member being slightly greater in diameterthan the cable passing therethrough, the bore of said tubular memberhaving short portions near the ends thereof enlarged to form first andsecond liquid chambers, said rst chamber being positioned substantiallyadjacent the Wellhead, conduit means for introducing a viscouspressure-liquid through the Wall of said tubular member to said rstchamber, second conduit means for discharging said viscouspressure-liquid from said second chamber, a source of viscouspressure-fluid connected to said first vconduit means, and a pluralityof axially disposed gas flow resistance orifices mounted within anvenlarged portion of the bore of said tubular member.

HOWARD E. MCKINNEY.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number

